Awkward trip.
Hours had passed since the incident between Ruby and Frion last night, and the group was now continuing their path to defeat the warriors of Chaos. Ruby and Firion had not spoken a word to each other after what happened, something that hadn't gone unnoticed. The fact that Ruby was not begging Firon to tell her more about his weapons was already a clear sign something wasn't right. And while Kain knew what happened, he chose not to tell anyone since it's wasn't his place to tell about something that embarrassing.
"Alright, would any of you tell us why you are avoiding each other?" Tidus asked "One day you are talking endlessly about weapons, and now you act like you've never met before".
Ruby and Firion blushed as they tried to think of something, Firion being the first to speak "Well, you see...".
"It's kind of a funny story really" Ruby added nervously.
"Yeah... depending on how you look at it" Firion said.
"Well, what is it then?" Yang asked.
Ruby gulped, Yang would be beyond furious if she found out what happened "W-well, we-".
Before she could finish a new voice was heard "By all means girl, tell us. Sounds interesting".
Everyone looked up and saw a woman. She wears a skin-tight red gown with a plunging neckline that exposes her neck, chest, stomach and abdomen, and only partially obscures her breasts. A black collar extends down the neckline to her waist; the collar rests over her shoulders and covers the junction of her black feathered wings. The dress has a short train, which drags along the floor, trimmed either similarly to the collar, or torn and frayed and made dirty. Long red sleeves with prominent shoulder pads join with her purple taloned hands. Her skin is tattooed or body-painted with lined patterns. She wears a gold necklace, earrings and hair jewelry among a headdress designed to pull her hair up to resemble horns; silver bangs are left to frame her face. She has yellow eyes surrounded by purple eyeshadow and she wears deep red lipstick. She has no eyebrows, instead having tattoos. She doesn't wear shoes, walking barefoot, and although she has a human appearance, her toenails resemble a beast's claws.
Squall glared daggers at her "You...".
"Ultimecia" Tifa added with a glare of her own.
"You know her?" Blake asked, ready to pull her weapon.
"Fought her last time I was here. She is a real pain with he magic" Tifa said, ready to fight.
Squall pointed his gun blade at the new enemy "I don't care how many times it takes. I will destroy you, and make sure you stay dead forever!".
Ultimecia chuckled "Always so angry, little boy. But If you think I am alone, you are dead wrong. Isn't that right, friend?".
Everyone turned and saw another woman. She was wearing a red and black cape with the rest of its body covered in red and black markings. She has a red heart-shaped mark on her forehead, long silver hair and two tentacles emerging from her waist.
"It is indeed. We are more than willing to aid you in this" She said in an voice void of emotions.
"Cloud of Darkness" Cloud remembered.
The two evil women combined their powers, creating a large destructive orb above the warriors of Cosmos. The magic users quickly tried to create a magic barrier to stop it... but while it did protect them from the direct hit, the resulting explosion destroyed the area, causing the warriors to be separated, with Ruby and Firion beginning to slide down a chasm. Yang called out Ruby's name, but had to be pulled back by Kain to keep her from falling down too.
"Firion!" Ruby yelled in panic.
Firion grabbed her arm and tried to use one of his weapons to stop their fall, but to no avail as they still fell down, both letting out a loud scream as they did. The fall would've easily killed any normal human, but thankfully, thanks to their training, both warriors managed to slow their fall just enough so the impact wouldn't be fatal, but it still knocked them out as the chaos unfolded around them. When everything was over, Ruby slowly woke up. She sat up, rubbing her head with a painful groan. She looked around and gasped when she saw her ally.
"Firion!" She called out as she speeds over to him and helped remove some large rocks from him "Are you OK?!".
Firion coughed as he sat up and rubbed his head "I think so. What about you?".
"I'm fine, but what about the others?" Ruby asked as she looked around, hoping to see at least one of their friends.
Firion did the same but didn't see anyone "Looks like they did not fall with us. I hope they are all well after an attack like that".
"I hope so too... but how do we get out of here?" Ruby asked as she looked up.
"The walls looks to unstable to climb. We will need to follow that path and hope it leads somewhere" Firion said as he pointed down a path.
"I guess it's our only way. Let's hurry before the others worry" Ruby said and with a nod from Firion they headed down the path.
It was dark, but thanks to the light from above, they could still see where they were going. They walked in silence, being able to focus on a way out was a nice distraction for a while... but it quickly turned awkward again and it wouldn't work out if they kept going like this. Not to mention it was to distracting, and that could prove dangerous in case one of the Chaos warriors were down here with them.
"Ruby... I.. I am sorry for what happened last night. I didn't know you were still bathing, and I didn't mean to walk up on you like that" Firion said.
Ruby blushed "I'm sorry too. I thought you were my sister so I wanted to surprise her... but given how big our group is now, I should've made sure it was her before I made a fool out of myself like that".
"Guess we both made a mistake... still hard to unsee what I saw" Firion said with a blush.
"You better try to unsee it! No boy has ever seen me naked before, and it was really embarrassing!" Ruby said, her face almost matching her hood as the path led them in to a large opening. But before any more words could be said, a large armored monster showed up.
An Iron Giant. Though it looks to be a giant encased in armor, the Iron Giant is in fact a machine made with lost technology. With its great blade it wreaks havoc upon all within range and no one living knows why it fights. They are tall metal monsters, often wielding large swords, that rely on physical attacks. This particular Iron Giant was a creature called Daemon, that appears at night in Lucis, as well as in caves at any time of the day, given to their weakness against light. But this area was dark enough for it to cause trouble to any who may show up.
"Something tells me that is not a gentle giant" Ruby said.
"No, it is not" Firion said as he took out his bow.
"Figures" Ruby said as she takes out Crescent Rose "Guess we have to kill it".
The Iron Giant stalked towards the two warriors. Firon began fireing arrows, as Ruby shot it with her sniper. The attacks did little to the large monster as it raised it's massive blade and brought it down, forcing Ruby and Firion to jump aside. Switching to melee weapons Ruby jumps over it and slams her scythe into its back. The large Daemon however, is unfazed by this, grabs her by the head and throws her down in to the ground. Firion leaps in to help, slashing at the Daemon with his blade, before having to duck under a swing from it's massive blade.
Ruby recovered from the throw and got ready to rejoin the fight. She slashes at it several time before using her semblance to avoid an over head strike from it's sword and then strikes it in the back. Firion slashes at it's chest before jumping away and fired a powered up arrow that manages to pearce it's armor, but not enough to cause fatal damage. The two warriors continues to attack it with both close and long range attacks, causing only minor damage to the powerful Daemon. It roars before it began spinning around, it's size and blade causing strong winds that managed to unbalance the two warriors.
Ruby managed to stop herself by slamming her weapon in to the ground, but the Daemon brought down it's blade hard enough to shatter the ground, and caused Ruby to fly back while being it by the flying rocks. The Iron Giant then used it's own magic to pull Firion closer to it. It then pinned him down and got ready to finally end him with it's large sword. Ruby looked up and gasped in horror as Firion was about to be killed by the monster.
"NOOOO!" She screamed as her eyes suddenly began shinning brightly.
The Iron Giant let out a roar of agony as the light from Ruby's eyes badly weakened it. Surprised at first, Firion quickly charged up another arrow and fired it clean through the Iron Giant. Finally killing it. He watched the body dissolve before running up to Ruby who was catching her breath.
"Ruby! You OK?" He asked in worry.
Ruby looked up before she suddenly hugged him, he was surprised until she spoke "Thank goodness... I did it, I managed to save you. I couldn't handle watching another friend die...".
Firion was silent for a moment before he hugged her back "Yes. You did it. You saved me. I am alright thanks to you".
Ruby smiled as she allows him to help her up and she puts her trusted weapon away "I'm glad. I promised to never let any of my friends die in front of me again. I failed twice. I refuse to let there be a third".
"I know what you mean. I promised to never let my friends down either. I will protect them to my very last breath, and stay alive long enough to see a peaceful and beautiful world. A world were flowers can finally bloom and bring happiness to everyone" Firion said.
"That does sound nice. What kind of flowers will that be?" Ruby asked.
Firion suddenly made a rose appear out of nowhere "Roses. They always bring joy".
Ruby giggled "Well, isn't that ironic. My full name is Ruby Rose".
"Really? That would explain why you bring joy to everyone around you" Firion said.
"Does that include you? Do I bring you joy?" Ruby asked teasingly.
Firion blushed "When you are not attacking me from the water while naked, then yeah, you do".
Ruby blushed too... but then she suddenly burst out laughing. Firion was confused, but soon joined in. They laughed for a solid minute before finally calming down.
"Oh man, I really needed that" Ruby said as she wiped her eyes "You and I are going to go through a lot of crazy things, aren't we?".
Firion chuckled "Yeah... I have a feeling we will. And to tell you the truth, I don't mind. I enjoy being around you, both in the fun and awkward times".
Ruby smiled at him "I feel the same way" She held out her hand "Want to leave this place together?".
"Like I even need to answer that" Firon said as he took Ruby's hand and they walked towards an nearby exit together.
Despite the very long and very awkward time they had, it ultimately did bring them closer together, and they became much better friends as an result. Their friendship would strengthen their resolve and help given them the strength they would need for their inevitable clash with the Chaos Warriors.
The thought made both subconsciously tighten their grips on each other's hands.
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In Final Fantasy XV, the monsters are called Daemons, and not Demons. Just to clear that up.
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Tell me what you think.
